EUROPEAN FAMILY THERAPY ASSOCIATION
CONNECTING FAMILY THERAPISTS AND TRAINERS
Together, they unpack what EFTA (European Family Therapy Association) is, how it’s structured, and what it offers to both long-standing members and curious newcomers. We hear about their personal journeys into systemic therapy, the organization’s current goals, and the evolving landscape of family and systemic practice in response to global challenges—from climate change to social justice.
We also dive into the EFTA Task Forces—on Social Justice, Research, Training Standards, Ethics, and External Relationships—and explore how these working groups are shaping the future of systemic thinking and action.
Whether you’re a seasoned practitioner or just discovering systemic ideas, this episode offers an open invitation to get involved, attend the upcoming EFTA Congress, and take part in a growing, reflective, and forward-thinking community.
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Relationships between people families, work teams, communities and nations have all undergone major changes in recent decades. Multiple influences, including cultural and scientific evolution are all central to the context of systemic thinking and therapy.
Disciplines such as physics, medicine, psychology, environmental and social sciences have made decisive contributions to the advancement of our knowledge. Distant galaxies have come closer due to our increased knowledge of the cosmos, and our probes and rockets are reaching towards the farthest edges of space-time. On the other hand, violence and barbarism destroy lives, property, and certainties on a daily basis, sparking vicious and often deadly clashes between individuals, communities, nations, and cultures.
In spite of these challenging realities, systemic therapists and practitioners are compelled to pursue their commitment to healing the resulting psychic and relational suffering and, above all, to rekindle hope, resilience and optimism for a better future.
Dear Colleague, Following a workshop on supervision practices among systemic therapists organized at the EFTA TIC meeting in Athens in 2023, a transnational research team, composed by Valeria Pomini (Greece), Ivy Daure (France), and Maurizio Frisina (Belgium), with the support of Vanna Foe (trainee – Greece), constructed a questionnaire called Systemic Supervision Survey (SySS) in […]
This document was written by participants of the online meeting regarding the international dramatic situation. The contributors (Mauro Mariotti, Valeria Pomini, Maria Grazia Sabatini, Peter Stratton) are part of the group of authors of “Evidenze e creatività in psicoterapia sistemica e relazionale,” a book published by Franco Angeli, scheduled for release on April 14, 2025, and edited by Mauro Mariotti, Camillo Loriedo, George Saba, Carlos E. Sluzki and Peter Stratton. This document has been sent to all the authors of the book, requesting their contributions and its dissemination to relevant individuals in our field. The EFTA President, Umberta Telfener, generously offered to share the document on the EFTA website. We hope that, as systemic workers and thinkers, our voices will be heard. We hope you, members of EFTA, will participate to the next meeting (to be scheduled) and with comments to be sent to or directly to EFTA ().
1. Reflection from Umberta Telfener : As Social Justice and Systemic Thinking Task Force we met the first time at the NFTO in Sofia in June 2023, we created a whatsup group and exchanged some “fast” thoughts wondering what to deal with. Too many issues seemed important and focus was needed. Then life took over but right now we decided to start meeting and discussing again regularly. These words are just some reflections on the too many terrible and unjustified wars we are surrounded by.
Few days ago a client of mine posed this question: “Are we more violent compared to Medieval times?” I was stunned since I was questioning myself about the horrors of war in a time of enhanced consciousness: why does a civilized country become violent and destroy others? How can individuals de-humanize and do things that are despicable and they would judge as horrendous in times of peace? I started searching ….
2. Answer from Borislava Metcheva : I read the article carefully and so many thoughts are racing through my head… I am struggling a lot with the idea how we can make sense of what is going on globally so that the way we make sense of it help us see a path forward…
Here are some of my thoughts:
First of all, I am thinking about “conscious purpose” (Bateson) – for how long as societies we were enchanted by this premise and for how long this narrative of “achievement-improvement-more achievement-more ambition-and so on” organized our behavior at large scale…
3. Thoughts by Cinthe Lemmens : I read both of your contributions, Umberta and Borislava, my systemic colleagues, friends. How good is it not to feel alone, to belong to a large systemic community. Connectivity and exchange as an antidote to apathy, indifference, desensitization, numbness, hopelessness…
Reading your thoughts brings up new thoughts, memories.
It takes me back to the presentation of Lucie Hornova in Sofia, Bulgaria, our latest NFTO-meeting. She (and we) talked about hope and hopelessness, quoting K. Weingarten who says: ‘Hoping is not just a feeling or a noun, hope is also a verb that we can practice. We Do Hope.’
4. Thoughts by Petya Varcheva: The written by Umberta and Borislava is strongly resonating in me. Following the flow I feel, I would like to share some of my associations and reflections
I’m also struggling with the question – how we, as humans, have created such a context in which this terrifying violence became possible and so many of us became passive bystanders, supporting with their silence or openly justifying people killing people…
5. Thoughts by Charlie Azzopardi: On reflecting on contemporary history and the current world situation, and reading the interesting reflections of other colleagues, I could not stop myself from writing down some ideas about what is going on in terms of social justice. Of course having learned to think systemically I cannot but not view the contemporary complex political situation from this perspective and make sense of everything around me by connecting “everything to everything else” (Bateson).
Hello to everybody, I am Umberta Telfener, the new President of EFTA.
I am very honored to have received this assignment which I personally care very much about.
I am in EFTA since 1991, first as an individual and from 2010 representing the Milan Institute of Family Therapy (Luigi Boscolo and Gianfranco Cecchin). I become a member of the TIC Board in 2016 and from November 2020 I was its Chair. Now I will act as your President and intend to do my very best.
Agenda Upcoming events
Dear colleagues,
We are a group of researchers from the University of Bergamo, Italy, conducting a study aimed at exploring beliefs about scientific knowledge and their practical implications. Specifically, the study investigates the relationship between epistemological beliefs and their influence on therapeutic and clinical practices.
With the title “False appearances and plausibility”, IFATC, the French Institute that is organizing the Lyon Congress 2025 with us on behalf of Relates, has organized a very interesting dialogical congress the 5th and 6th of December 2024.
Dear members, We decided to upload the “Assisi Manifesto” to let you know what is the latest choral effort of clinicians around the world reflecting on our specific work as systemic practitioners. As I think you know by now I am not keen on bringing everything back to families: I think that systemic thinking obliges […]
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- Encourage professionals, Training Institutes and National Federations you consider eligible to join. (Refer to the websites of the 3 Chambers for membership categories and criteria).
- Promote EFTA to students and trainees, supporting them to apply for associate membership.